High school notebook: Sections of McKee Stadium sod for sale

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, May 19, 2019 | 8:55 PM

How much does Jeannette love its high school football?

Enough to want to salvage chunks of sod from venerable McKee Stadium, which will have artificial turf installed in the coming weeks.

Talk about grass roots.

The school district fielded inquiries from several people about the grass and what would become of it — Jeannette has played on the surface since 1937 when McKee first opened its gates.

Now, fans can purchase sections of sod, which will be “cut, rolled and sold.”

Each 3-foot section will cost $10.

The grass will be sold from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the main gate to the stadium.

“We have received numerous requests,” Jeannette Superintendent Matt Jones said. “The fans are amazing.”

All-conference honors

The Big 5/6 Conference, a web site that recognizes the accomplishments of teams and athletes in the WPIAL’s two largest classifications, announced its all-conference teams for baseball and softball.

Baseball first-team selections in Class 6A Section 2 include Owen Sabol and Jayden Walker of Norwin; Luke Hudson of Hempfield; Connor Mondock of Latrobe; and Mario Disso, Maclean Maund, Cade Patterson, and Luke Fabac of Penn-Trafford.

Class 5A Section 1 baseball first-team picks: Jake Williams, Michael Klingensmith, Tommy Kegerreis, Palmer Jackson and Bryce Harper of Franklin Regional; and Franklin Regional’s Bobby Saddler was named coach of the year.

Softball 6A first-teamers in Section 2 are: Jessica Persin and Laura Fox of Hempfield; and Hailee Culbertson and Sydney Lokay of Norwin. Brian Mesich of Norwin was the coach of the year in the section.

And first-team players in 5A softball: Emma Armstrong, Morgan Nedley, Brooke Cleland and Emma Little of Penn-Trafford; Mallory Halleck and Angalee Beall of Franklin Regional; Makayla Munchinski of Latrobe; and coach of the year went to Denny Little of Penn-Trafford.

Recruiting trail

Ligonier Valley has been a busy place for college coaches, who are stopping in to inquire about junior linemen Michael Petrof and Christian Jablonski.

Petrof, a 6-foot-2, 275-pound offensive guard and defensive tackle, added offers from Colgate, Navy, Monmouth, Richmond, Brown and Columbia.

Jablonski (6-5,260), an offensive tackle and defensive end, grabbed recent offers from Dartmouth and Richmond.

• The latest offer to come in for Hempfield junior lineman Fintan Brose was from Villanova.

• Penn-Trafford senior Hunter Destefano will continue his basketball career at Carlow. He initially planned to play baseball at Cal (Pa.).

• Jeannette senior basketball player AJ Sharp will join Destefano at Carlow.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Jeannette, Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Norwin, Penn-Trafford